Ashland's Watson finishes tied for 14th at Ohio Junior Championship

By CHRIS SNOW T-G Sports Writer Published: June 15, 2017 4:00 AM

Ashland's Max Watson fired a three-over 75 Wednesday, the second and final day of the Ohio Golf Association's Junior Championship, held at Ashland Golf Club.

Watson, who shot a 74 on Tuesday's Day 1 of the championship, finished in a tie for 14th place.

"It's awesome," Watson said about playing in the tournament in his hometown. "All the best kids from Ohio are here. For Ashland to be able to host something like this, it is great for the city."

His day began with a twist from Mother Nature. Right when he was about to tee off, play was suspended due to inclement weather, and action was suspended nearly two hours.

"I was really lucky the first day," said Watson, who downplayed the weather's impact on his play. "I got out early and finished before they had all sorts of delays. Some guys didn't even get to finish their rounds (Tuesday).

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"I was just lucky on the first day, so it kind of came back to haunt me on the second day a little bit, but it's fine," he said. "Weather is never an excuse."

The soon-to-be Ashland High School junior cruised through his first six holes Wednesday, parring all six. However, he ran into trouble on holes 7 and 8, bogeying both holes.

Finding his rhythm once again, Watson went 1-under over the next six holes, including a birdie on 13.

"On 13, I hit a good drive and then used a sand wedge in and hit a good shot to about 15 to 20 feet," Watson said. "I had a good read and made the putt -- stroked it well."

He followed with another par on 14, but he ran into problems once again over the next two holes as he bogeyed 15 and double-bogeyed 16.

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"I tried to go for it on 15," Watson said. "I tried to go for it in two, and I didn't hit a good second shot, and I kind of turned a birdie into a bogey. I hit a bad shot on 16, but you are going to hit some bad shots, it's just how you recover.

"I can use this as a learning experience to try and get better and recover better when I have bad shots because everybody has bad shots," he said. "Whoever can recover the best is the one who is going to be at the top after the tournament is over."

Not to be deterred by the rough stretch, Watson rebounded with a birdie on 17, and by making par on the finishing 18th.

"I could have kind of thrown in the towel after I had a couple bad holes on the back, but I stuck together and had 1-under over my last two holes," Watson said. "So it was a good way to end the tournament, even though I didn't play exactly how I wanted to."

Looking back over his performance, Watson was pleased with his ball-striking, if not his final score..

"I was satisfied with how I hit the ball," he said. "I just had a couple mental errors here and there and just a couple putts didn't go in."